My Chemical Romance Launch North American Tour with Howlingly Chaotic Oklahoma City Show: Recap, Photos + Setlist

Donning a green camo jacket and a face full of Heath Ledger-style Joker makeup, Gerard Way leads My Chemical Romance into their first North American tour in more than 900 days, often channeling the same chaotic energy of whom he decorated his visage. The fizzing static distortions in the intro to “The Foundations of Decay,” the surprise single released this May in support of the reunion tour, practically serve as white noise behind the jubilant roars of the crowd as the band takes the stage inside Oklahoma City’s Paycom Arena. (Grab tickets to the rest of MCR’s tour dates here.)

Clocking in at an epic six minutes, “The Foundations of Decay” features a bite-sized version of the same world-building story-craft often associated with the My Chemical Romance albums. Way’s soft-spoken early verse conjures the image of an old and battered general atop a hill, reflecting both on wounds both physical and emotional. The parallels between the protagonist and Way himself are clear, and longtime MCR fans know exactly how the singer got these scars.

Way’s words carry a personal connotation, but it is a sentiment that likely resonates with many gathered tonight. In the past few decades, the band’s core age demographic has lived through 9/11, recession, multiple wars, a global pandemic, and the ever-growing sense that society’s status quo could disintegrate at any moment — goldilocks conditions for the nihilist origin stories of a generation. So as the band transitions into the song’s howling crescendo, and a giant red curtain falls behind them to reveal a dystopian backdrop of crumbling city towers looming ragged over the fuming debris at ground zero, the stage is finally set. Here we are, at the cusp of oblivion. What happens now?

If the world is in its decay era, Way and MCR appear less interested in saving it and are instead content to go out laughing, crying, raging. MCR transition form their newest song into “Bury Me in Black” and the adrenaline-kicker “Give ‘Em Hell Kid,” aided by impressively precise percussion from new drummer Jarrod Alexander, who’s performing with the phrase “BIG DEATH ENERGY” scrawled in red across the front of the kick drum.

One of the most endearing aspects of MCR is their catalog rich with catchy choruses and melodies just begging for a singalong, and the band tosses an eager crowd its first bone with “Teenagers.” Lead guitarist and backing vocalist Ray Toro can’t help but smile as he eggs the fans on. Though the European leg of the reunion tour preceded the American dates, there is nothing like a home crowd; hearing a near-capacity audience recite a song’s every word back to the band is not a new experience for MCR, but this is the first time since the pandemic the members have heard it from an American audience. Aside from a few one-off reunion shows, it’s also their first full tour since 2012. Nostalgia’s comforting embrace hugs the entire room.

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